Pulmunologist - Specialist in Lungs

Clinicians vs Academicians

Evrybody can become a doctor, it is one you become of after that, either a clinician or an academician..

How do u differentiate which type of doctor everyone is through observation in the wards

An academician..will do all sort of things which might worsen the patient's condition
Imagine reaching the emergency department feeling breathless, the doctor suspects the patient has asthma, then the doctor asks the patient to blow into a peak flow meter ( a cylindrical instrument to measure the lung capacity) and treats according to the reading on the peak flow.
Thats an academician. A clinician.. knows that there is no point in doing a peak flow. The patient is already breathless and asking him to do this and that can worsen his condition. Just treat according to experience. Academicians will follow the percentage of reduction in peak flow then give dosages of medication according to one is written in the book although what they giv might be inadequate for the patient. A clinician picks up the sign and knows how much to give in a snap

How we suddenly came to this discussion because when discussing on the scenario above, one colleague of mine suggested a peak flow and mode of treatment should depend on the deficit in the peak flow reading.

And he defended his stand by saying this was written in the book
Our professor's argument was, books are written by academicians, they do not know what is practical and what is not in a real setting. and you know why? because they have time to write books. which implies they do not spend enough time in the wards to see real patients

An academician can give beautiful talks in conferences but not be a good clinician
A clinician can be a a clinician and giv beautiful talks too because they relate to real life experiences and makes the talk more memorable.

Besides that, academicians will try to go for any possible conferences, talks, put up papers and publish books. They are hardly in the wards. Wherelse, a clinician is always in the wards, even not on his call days, on public holidays, taking care of the patients, they might not be as bright when it comes to the most uptodate news on medicine but the beauty is seen when they pick up signs in patients which many people can do. They can predict when something is gonna go wrong although patient looks well and nobody seems to be wrried about the patient. Subtle signs are their speciality, the slightest sign of breathlessness they can detect,that sort of thing

My professor told me too that even patients can distinguish a clinician from the academician
The academician comes to the ward talks to the patient and other doctors about the latest technology, the best treatment overseas, the statistics which they memorise, but when it comes to hands on in examining and treating the patient..they are not as confident

When all this patients fall sick, although the academician who claims to be still be practicing medicine has more titles than the clinician, they will still go to the clinician because they know clinician wont miss the most subtle sign and will manage them with care and appropriately

The more i heard his stories the more i felt clinical work is definitely for me. I love the challenge of picking up things whch other people forgot to or just couldnt pick up. I have done many regardless it was a counter check with my colleagues or even the house officers. Its like wow..endorphins released.. like im sherlock holmes, able to crack the case by myself. I felt that i was able to prolong somebody else's life.

My most memorable was i saved a baby who was not born yet from dying in his mom's womb, just by asking for a history which the house officers missed. i alerted the nurse and she was induced into labour and pushed into the labour room. If i was late that baby wont be around..such a cute baby!:)